Family Ties
by Icypixie
Summary: When a victim is found, Detective Ryan is confronted with a pull of the heartstrings.
1. The Body

Family Ties

A fanfic based on ABC's Castle

The morning started out as normal as every other day for Detective Kate Beckett. She walked into the precinct in the early morning, and found the ever-present Richard Castle sitting in his chair beside her desk. In the time that he'd been following her for his series of Nikki Heat novels, she'd started to get used to him being around. He may have the maturity of a 10-year-old, but he was helpful when he needed to be.

"Good morning to you Detective." Castle said as he gave her his usual gleeful grin. "I made you a coffee, and got the paper for you." He pointed to the desk where a Starbuck's coffee cup sat next to a copy of the New York Times.

Kate sighed and shook her head, sitting at her desk. "Good morning, Castle." She took a sip from the coffee and picked up the paper. She was barely finished reading the headline when her phone began to ring. "Beckett." She said when she raised the receiver to her ear. "Got it, we'll be there soon." Kate hung up the phone and stood up. "Come on Castle, we've got a body."

Within 30 minutes Kate was walking towards Detective Javier Esposito with Castle tailing right behind her. They were in an ally way next to a large apartment building on 32nd street. Esposito was standing near two uniforms when he waved them over.

"Our vic is about mid 30's, early 40's," Esposito said as he led them to the body. "No ID, No wallet, and her face is too slashed up to see what she looked like originally."

"Some women kill for a face change, not many die for it." Castle said, trying to add human to the situation.

Kate gave him a look and then turned back to Esposito. "Thanks," She said as she followed him, surveying the crime scene. "Where's Ryan?"

"He called and said he was running late, but he'd meet us here soon."

As they neared the body, Detective Beckett noticed the victim's clothing. A pair of jeans with a pink spaghetti strap shirt. Dr. Lanie Parish was kneeling over the woman, giving her a once over. Lanie stood up with her clipboard in hand, turning to Beckett. "Preliminary cause of death would be a single knife wound to the chest between 10 pm and 2 am last night." She said as she ran down her list of observations. "There are contusions around her upper arms that are consistent with someone grabbing her, but there are more bruises on her knuckles as though she was punching something. There are also multiple slashes on her face meaning ID is going to be difficult."

"She fought back." Beckett said as she looked down at the body. Esposito had been right, the slashes along her cheeks and fore head showed more underlying flesh than skin, and the blood flowed back over her forehead, pooling into her hair. It made her stomach churn.

Lanie lifted one of the victim's shoulders, revealing several small puncture wounds with glass sticking from some of them. "It looks like she might have fallen onto a glass surface and it shattered under her, giving her these wounds."

"Alright, thanks Lanie." Kate said as she signaled the coroners to pack up the body and taking down to the morgue.

"Seems like our victim was attacked, then dragged out here and defaced," Castle said, playing detective. "That means the real crime scene is somewhere else."

That's when foot steps came running up behind them. Kate turned and saw that the foot steps belonged to Detective Kevin Ryan. "About time you showed up." She said as he stopped in front of her.

"I would have been here sooner if my car didn't break down and Jenny didn't have to drive me." Ryan said as he gave her a smile. "So what'd I miss?"

"Just a stab victim that also got her face carved up." Esposito answered as he handed Ryan his notes. "You can review them on the way to the precinct." And with that all four of them headed back to the 12th.


	2. The Identity

Chapter 2

Kate Beckett stood in front of her standard white board, reviewing what she had. A picture of the victim was placed in the upper right hand corner, it was a picture taken at the crime scene so she didn't look like the pictures normally placed there. _Jane Doe _was written in black marker under the picture, but Beckett was eager to erase it and place a real name there. Castle was standing next to her, leaning against the desk behind him. Kate went back and forth over the information at hand, but until she got an ID there was nothing else she could do. Esposito was going over missing persons reports, trying to see which one might match the woman's physical appearance, while Ryan was in another room reviewing crime scene photos.

"It doesn't make sense," Beckett said, exhaling deeply "The person who did this was trying to make sure she wouldn't be identified."

"Maybe they wanted to take away her face to send a message, or they really hated her." Castle said, trying to offer up ideas.

That was when Esposito's phone rang. He picked it up and listened to the person on the other end. "Yes, thank you." He said before standing up and walking over to the white board. "Dr. Parish got an ID on our vic based on her dentals. Her name is Amelia Marcus."

As soon as Beckett heard that she picked up the eraser and replaced _Jane Doe_ with _Amelia Marcus_. "Good, now we can get somewhere with this."

As soon as she finished writing the name, Ryan walked out with the crime scene photos. "Sorry, there wasn't anything here that…" Ryan started, but stopped when Beckett turned and he could see the victim's name. His jaw clenched, and his eyes showed a mix of surprise and anger. "If this is a joke, it's not funny."

"What are you talking about?" Castle said, confused by Ryan's obvious anger.

"How did you get that name?" Ryan said, placing the pictures on a nearby table.

"Dr. Parish got them off of our vic's dentals." Esposito said taking a step towards Ryan. "You okay Bro? Did you know her?"

"Amelia Marcus is her married name," Ryan said walking up to the other three. "Her maiden name is Amelia Ryan." As soon as he said that, everyone's eyes went wide. "That's my sister."


	3. The Questions

A/N: I do not own Castle or any characters involved, I just like the show.

"You have a sister!" Kate said, staring Ryan.

"Yeah, but she moved out west when she got married. After her husband died, she moved back here with her daughter. They've been living here for almost a year." Kevin said trying to remain calm. He rubbed the back of his head and started pacing.

"Wait," Castle said, thinking about what Ryan said. "If she has a daughter, then where is she?"\

Kevin stopped pacing and looked up. "Jessica..." He quickly turned on his heal, grabbed his coat and made his way to the elevator with the other 3 following him.

They were soon at Amelia's apartment building, getting off the elevator on her floor. Kate had Kevin lead the way, showing them to the door. They stopped at room 486, and Kat pulled out her gun. She gave a reassuring nod to Ryan and knocked on the door. "NYPD, please open the door." For the first few moments everything was silent, and then there was a kicked in the door and all three detectives raised their guns. There was a girl, maybe 15 or 16 years old, standing in front of a shattered, glass coffee table. She turned when the door was kicked in, and raised her hands. They quickly lowered their guns and Kevin stepped closer to the girl. She ran forward and wrapped her arms around his midsection. Ryan placed a hand on the back of her head, and his arm around her shoulder.

"It's okay Jessica, I'm here." Kevin said in a soothing voice as she began to sob into his shirt. He looked back at the others behind him. "This is my niece, Jessica." Kate, Esposito, and Castle walked up to them and looked down at the girl. She was tall, had dark hair, and was currently wearing pink pajamas. Kate looked at the girl with somber eyes. The girl had lost her father and then her mother. She placed one hand on the girl's shoulder and then walked past to look at the shattered coffee table. She saw a pool of blood that had soaked into the carpet.

"Looks like we found the crime scene." Kate said, as she pulled her phone out to call a forensics team.

- Back at the precinct, Jessica was waiting in an interrogation room. Kate, Castle, Ryan, and Esposito were watching her from the observation room. She sat with a blanket around her shoulders, and stared at the one-way mirror.

"I feel bad for her." Esposito said as continued to watch. "Should we really be questioning her now?"

"If we wait too long the trail will run cold and we might not be able to find the killer," Kate said as she opened the door. "But that doesn't mean that I'm going to like this."

Castle followed Kate into the interrogation room and placed a mug of hot chocolate in front of Jessica. "I hope you don't mind instant." He said with a small smile as he sat down.

"It's fine." Jessica responded. She picked up the mug ad took a sip. She nodded and set it down.

"Jessica, before we start, I want to tell you how sorry I am." Kate said as she placed her hand over the girl's. "and that we are going to do everything that we can to find out what happened."

"Thank you," She said, biting her lip to keep from crying. "I'll answer what I can."

Kate kept her hand where it was for a moment before taking it back to open the file in front of her. "According to reports we got from the officers where you lived before, you're father was killed about a year ago?"

Jessie swallowed hard and nodded. "Yes, 1 year, 2 weeks from today, and his birthday is next week." She looked down at the table. "And now my mom's gone too."

"I'm very sorry to bring up something like this, but I have to."

"I understand, I want to help in any way I can." She said meekly, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders.

Richard looked over a Kate and leaned forward a bit. "Can you talk about what happened last night?"

Jessica looked up, and took a deep breath. "Mom had just come home from work. She'd come home about 8:30. I was cleaning up from my dinner and I left a plate out for her. I had to finish a project so I went up to my room to work on it. She came in later to say good night to me, that was about 9:45. I'd been really stressed lately and hard for me to get sleep, so my mom gave me a mild sleeping pill to help me rest. She gave me a kiss and told me she'd see me in the morning. Then the door bell rang, so she went down stairs. I took the pill and fell asleep. When I woke up, I finished working on my project. Then you guys came to the door, and I went downstairs. I screamed when I saw the blood." She swallowed hard and wiped away the tears that were forming in her eyes. "That's all I remember."

Kate nodded. "Thank you Jessica." She said collecting her papers and heading for the door. Then she turned back to her. "If you need to talk, you can find me."

Jessica stood up and walked to the door. She looked up at Kate. "Thank you." Then she walked out and sat down at Ryan's desk.

Castle stood beside Kate as he watched Jessica. "You see part of herself in her you, don't you?" Kate turned her head to look at him. He continued. "I think she needs someone who understands what she's going through. Someone like you." Castle walked away, letting Kate be by herself for a moment. She watched as Kevin exited the observation room and sat down next to Jessica. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and spoke softly to her. It reminded her of her father comforting her after her mother's death. That's when she promised herself that she was going to solve this case.

A/N: Hello all. This is my first fanfic ever, so go easy on me if it's not perfect. For all of you reading out there, I hope you enjoy this look into Detective Ryan's past and his family. R and R!


	4. The Secret

A/N: I do not own Castle, no matter how epic that would be.

Kate returned to the crime scene later that afternoon, Castle right behind her as usual. The forensics team had just left with evidence and she was left to see if the neighbors heard anything. She knocked on the door of the adjacent apartment, and was met by a woman. She was maybe 30 years old, and a 3-year-old had his arm around her leg.

"Can I help you?" She asked, looking between the two of them.

"Excuse me ma'am," Kate said holding up her badge. "I'm detective Kate Beckett with the NYPD. May I ask you some questions?"

The woman quickly shooed the 3-year-old into the apartment and stepped into the hallway.

"This is about Amelia, isn't it?" The woman said, looking at the victim's door. "I can't believe this happened to her, she would baby sit Joey when I had to work late."

"I'm very sorry that this has happened." Beckett said as she pulled a small notebook from her pocket. "Is there anything that you had seen or heard last night that was suspicious in any way?"

"Yeah, there was yelling coming from the apartment. It ended fairly quickly so I thought nothing of it."

"Can you describe the voices?" Castle said, trying to play his part.

"One of them was Amelia." The woman said trying hard to remember. "The other voice, I don't remember very well. But it was definitely a woman."

"So you heard two women arguing at about 10:00 last night?"

"10:00? No, the arguing started at around 8:30. I'd just finished cleaning up dinner when it started."

"8:30?" Castle asked the woman before turning to Beckett. "That's when Jessica said her mother got home from work."

Kate stood in front of the whiteboard, shaking her head in disbelief.

"I don't understand. Why did Jessica lie to us?"

"There has to be more to this story than we're seeing, but we have to talk to Jessica again."

Ryan came up behind them and looked at what they had so far.

"How's it coming?" He asked, making Beckett and Castle turn quickly.

"We need to talk to Jessica again; we need to figure something out." Kate said, trying not to tell Ryan about his niece's lie.

"I'm not sure." Ryan said, looking around them to see Jessica sitting at his desk. "She's not taking it very well."

"She has good reason." Castle said looking over at the girl

"What do you mean?" Ryan asked, looking between Beckett and Castle.

Kate glanced at Castle and took a deep breath before turning to Ryan. "We have reason to believe that Jessica lied to us about what happened. The neighbors reported hearing an argument when Jessica said that her mother had come home."

Ryan gave Beckett a look; a look that she couldn't describe. It was like a mix of disbelief, hatred, and cold anger. "She lost her father last year, her mother died last night, and now you want to accuse her of lying? She would never lie."

"She wouldn't lie to you." Castle said, turning back to look at the girl. "But she lied to us for some reason. We have to find out what that reason is."

Ryan's eyes smoldered. "You aren't talking to her without me." Then he brushed passed both of them and sat at his desk next to Jessica.

"She won't tell the truth if Ryan is watching, so we have to find a way to talk to her without him." Beckett said, watching Ryan flip through papers. Jessica looked over and waved at them trying to give a small smile.

Castle turned to the board. "A woman killed and defaced, a husband dead, and lying daughter. This case is taking so many turns even I don't have any theories."


	5. The Lie

Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, own Castle.

"We need to find a way to distract Ryan so we can talk to Jessica again." Castle said as he sipped his coffee at Kate's desk.

"He's too involved in this case to think clearly," Kate stated as she leaned over her desk with her hands at her face. "I should have taken him off as soon as I knew it was his sister."

"I'll do it." Detective Esposito said as he came up between the two of them. "I know how stubborn he can be, and I can get Kevin to sit still for a bit."

Kate looked up at Esposito with disbelief. "I couldn't ask you to do that; it would break the trust you guys have."

"That's why you're not asking, I'm volunteering." Esposito's face was stern like he'd made up his mind. Kate only nodded and Castle grinned as they made their plan.

Kate watched as Esposito asked Ryan into another room. Ryan nodded and kissed Jessica on the head before following. Esposito was supposed to ask questions about Amelia, in order to keep him distracted long enough for her to talk to Jessica.

Kate went up to her and sat at Ryan's desk. Jessica smiled as she sat down, seeming to enjoy the company.

"Jessica," Kate said her face solid and cold. "Why did you lie to us?"

Jessica's smile fell from her face and she started to stammer. "W-What do you mean?"

"She means how you forgot to mention your argument the night your mom died." Castle said, his gleeful attitude gone and replaced with cold solace.

Jessica's mouth just moved for a moment, looking back and forth between them. Then she exhaled and looked up at Kate. Just as she was about to speak, a door flew open and Kevin charged out furious.

"I told you to leave her alone, but had to get Esposito to get me away from her to accuse her of lying! How dare you?"

Kate stood from the desk and slapped Kevin across the face. He started to stumble from the blow, but quickly regained his balance. He looked up at her, rubbing his cheek. Everyone else around the precinct stopped and stared

"Detective Kevin Ryan," She said with determination. "If you continue to hinder this investigation and obstruct justice, I will have your badge."

Ryan stood in defiance and grabbed the detective's shield from his waist. Just as he was about to throw it down at the desk, Jessica grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Stop!" She yelled staring into his eyes. "They're right, I did lie to them."

Ryan stared at her with confusion and disappointment. "Why? Why did you?"

Jessica stared down at the ground. "Because I was supposed to die."

A/N: DUN DUN DUUUUUN! Sorry I haven't been writing as much, but I hope you like this chapter. Read and Review!


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